Lucifer's Brand Read online

  LUCIFER'S BRAND

  Nicola West

  She'd thrown caution to the wind!

  Flair had been warned that when handsome hotelier Luke Seager kissed a woman she was branded his forever. But she wasn't about to let gossip about her boss prevent her from enjoying an exciting new life in Australia.

  She had come many miles to be reunited with her father, and since he had arranged her job, she was determined to stay and make him proud.

  Only after she had fallen deeply in love with Luke did she despair that all the talk about his womanizing was true.

  CHAPTER ONE

  'The City of Lights!'

  Flair Pattison gazed down at the panorama of colours spread in the velvety blackness below, and the woman beside her smiled with amusement.

  'You can see now why the Apollo astronauts called it that,' she remarked. 'Perth was one of the places they flew over at night, and it really impressed them. Of course, it's beautiful by day as well.'

  'I'm sure it is.' Flair stared eagerly from the window of the jumbo jet as it circled the city, preparing to land. 'My father's told me a lot about it in his letters.'

  'You're going to have some reunion,' Jean Chapman observed, watching the excited green eyes under the cap of smooth auburn hair. 'How long is it since you've seen each other?'

  'Nine years,' Flair confessed. 'Dad came out to Australia when I was thirteen. There wasn't any real quarrel—he and Mum had been more or less separated for some time, though we all still lived together. Then when he got the chance of a partnership out here with an old friend, he decided to take it. He was so sick of the way architecture was going in England—planning restrictions and spec building—he jumped at the chance. And as Mum wasn't prepared to leave her own career, she and I stayed behind. It was all quite amicable.'

  'But you must have missed him,' the older woman guessed.

  'Oh, yes. Yes, I did.' Flair turned away to gaze out of the window again. Even now, with the pain of separation soon to be assuaged, she could still find it difficult to speak of those empty years after her father had gone. Oh, he had written often, phoned on her birthday and at Christmas, kept as close a contact as was possible—but there had still been times when she lay wide-eyed and miserable at night, wondering how he was and what he was doing. Wondering if she would ever see him again.

  And at last here she was. Within the next hour they would be together again. She turned impulsively to Jean and was momentarily surprised by a look of equal excitement on the older woman's features as she too gazed down at the brilliantly-lit city below. Flair bit her lip and rebuked herself for her selfishness. As if she were the only person on the plane to be excited! She watched Jean's brown eyes glow, saw her hand shake slightly as she raised it to flick a strand of dark hair away from her cheek, and her voice softened as she asked:

  'Are your family meeting you at the airport? You must be longing to see them again.'

  Jean flashed her a quick look of appreciation and answered, 'Yes, Robert will be there—that's my husband—and Carl, our elder boy. The other one's away at uni—university—in Melbourne. He graduated from Perth and he's doing an extra course there.'

  'You must be proud of him—of both of them.'

  'Mm, too right! It was a shame neither of them could go back to England with me—Mum and Dad would have loved to see them, they were just babies when we emigrated. Of course, what we'd really like is for Mum and Dad to come out to us—permanently—and maybe they will when Dad retires, which won't be long now.'

  'It can't be easy when your children go off to the other side of the world,' Flair said thoughtfully. Rather to her surprise, she had found herself missing her own mother already, and wondering if Susan was missing her. There had been no lack of encouragement for Flair to make the trip—Susan had never been a clinging mother—but what had her innermost thoughts really been? Had she wondered, as she waved Flair off at Heathrow only yesterday, whether she would ever see her daughter again? Had she gone away to shed tears Flair had never seen?

  Shaken by these thoughts, Flair had been grateful for Jean's company on the flight. The older woman had seemed to sense the unexpected fears Flair had been experiencing; her comforting presence and casual conversation had done a lot to calm them. Flair hoped very much that she would be able to meet Jean again, in Perth. She had a feeling that when you came to a new country you could do with all the friends you could get.

  'Did you say you were going to stay here for a while, get a job?' Jean's voice broke in on her thoughts. Flair wrenched her mind back to the present and nodded.

  'Yes, that's right. Personal assistant to a hotelier Dad's doing some work for. I've trained in catering and hotel management, you see—got all the certificates and worked in several English hotels, and I thought it would be a good idea to get some experience in Australia.'

  'Sounds a great idea. Have you worked in any of the real big hotels? The London ones?'

  Flair smiled. 'Oh yes. I did a year at Claridge's. It was hard work, though—the glamour doesn't seep behind the scenes! I've had quite wide experience, really—started at a country hotel in the Cotswolds, then moved on to Manchester, then I did a stint as a relief, working at different places all over the country for just two or three, weeks at a time while the managers were on holiday—that sort of thing.' She smiled, remembering the toil, the crises and the fun of that period. 'Then I went to London. That was interesting, and I got a lot of experience there, but I wouldn't like to work there always. I like to be able to get into the country a bit more.'

  'Well, I think you'll enjoy working in Perth,' Jean commented. 'It's a capital city, but it's compact and there's plenty of outdoor life, what with the beaches for swimming and surfing, and all the sport you could want. D'you know which hotel you'll be working in?'

  'The Seager Hotel,' Flair said, and the other woman's eyes widened.

  'Seager's? You mean you'll be working for Luke Seager? Oh-oh-you're in for an exciting time, then!'

  'An exciting time?' A small frown appeared on Flair's elfin features. 'What do you mean?'

  'Why, haven't you heard of Luke Seager? No, I suppose you won-'t have. He's pretty well known in Australia, I can tell you. Owns a chain of hotels— built them up almost from nothing after his father died—a real go-getter. And that goes for women too—they say no one's ever resisted him. Wish I had the chance to try, that's all! Only don't tell Robert I said so!' She looked at Flair, taking in the heart-shaped face, the slender yet provocative figure so beautifully emphasised by a cool, loosely-cut pant suit in cream linen. An emerald scarf at the neck reflected the colour of Flair's eyes and set off her bronze hair. 'Like I said, you're in for an exciting time.'

  'I doubt it,' Flair said stiffly. 'A man like that will have his pick of women. He won't want an affair with his personal assistant. And even if he did ‑' she shrugged '—I'm pretty well able to take care of myself.'

  'Well, you just watch out if that's the way you feel,' Jean advised. 'Luke Seager's got a real reputation. They say he's the most dangerous man in Western Australia, as far as women are concerned. Not that I've ever heard anyone complaining.' She smiled suddenly. 'Know what they call him? Lucifer! They say once he's kissed you, you're branded for life. You'll never be free of him again. So if you don't want that kind of excitement, maybe you'd better go work in a department store. I don't give much for your chances as P.A. to Luke Seager!'

  Flair stared at her, conscious of a strange thrill somewhere deep in her stomach. It could have been fear—or it could have been something else. Impatiently, she bent to gather up her flight bag. Luke Seager was to be her employer, nothing more. Why, surely her father would never have arranged the job for her if he'd thought Luke the kind of man to take advantage of her pos
ition. And if he did turn out to be the sort who couldn't keep his hands off anything in skirts—well, there were other jobs, no doubt. Irresistible, indeed! He'd soon find out she was no easy game, she reflected as the plane bumped down and taxied across the tarmac. Flair Pattison hadn't come all this way to succumb to the first conceited male she came into contact with—no way! She had her sights set too firmly on her career.

  After filling in immigration forms and a cursory Customs check, Flair was at last free to go through the barrier towards the excited crowd of Australians, most of them dressed casually in open-necked shirts, light dresses and even tracksuits, waiting to greet friends and relatives. She paused, eyeing them doubtfully, wondering where her father was, if he had even arrived. She had his address, of course, and presumably there would be taxis to take if he didn't turn up— but just as her thoughts pursued this rather bleak path, a sudden movement on the edge of the crowd caught her eye, and she turned to see Jeff Pattison striding towards her, his arms held out in welcome.

  Flair stood quite still, almost unable for a moment to cope with the emotions that shook her body. She watched as her father strode towards her, seeing him for the first time for nine years as a flesh and blood man rather than an image in a photograph; seeing his coppery hair, so like her own even though it was now faded by sun and the years, the green eyes that she had inherited. The tall, lean body moved loosely and easily, and as he came nearer Flair saw his teeth flash in a grin of pure delight. In that moment, she knew that she had not come merely to a strange country; she had come home.

  'Dad! Dad, how marvellous!' Any more words were lost in the bear-hug he gave her, and she clung to him, her eyes wet with emotion at meeting the father she hadn't seen for nine years. 'Dad, how are you?'

  'I'm good.' He held her away from him, scanning her face. 'My word, you've grown up a real beauty, Flair. A touch of our Australian sun and you'll knock 'em all for six!'

  Flair chuckled. 'You know you've gone all Australian, Dad? I never really noticed it on the phone. But how are you really—you're looking a bit tired.'

  'Well, what do you expect when I have to stay up half the night to meet planes?' he countered, smiling. 'Is this all your luggage? Good job you managed to get a trolley. Look, will you wait by the entrance here while I go and get the car? It's a Hold en estate, yellow. I won't be more'n a few minutes.' He paused and touched her cheek gently. 'It's great to have you out here, Flair,' he said quietly. 'What I've always dreamed of. We'll have a great time together.' And with a quick smile he strode off into the darkness.

  Flair stood waiting with her luggage, lifting her face to the soft night air. It had a cool freshness welcome after the warmth of the plane, though she guessed the temperature to be around seventy, heavenly to anyone from England but no more than spring to Australians. A tiny frown puckered her brow. She hadn't missed the way Jeff had evaded her question about how he was. And he did look tired—more tired than a late night should account for. Older, too—though she supposed that was inevitable, considering the time they had been apart. Maybe he was working too hard. This Luke Seager, that he had the big contract with—maybe he was a slave-driver as well as a rake. Well, she'd soon alter that. Dad hadn't had anyone to look after him all these years, but that had changed now, and Luke Seager would soon see that he had someone to reckon with in his new personal assistant. She would be in a position to see exactly what went on, and if she didn't like it the sparks would fly.

  Flair had no false modesty about her own abilities. Brought up by a career-minded mother whose marriage had proved to be a mistake, she had decided long ago that her own career would take priority over that of any man. And if that meant staying single, so be it. She had no knowledge of passion; her mother had always dismissed love as being vastly overrated and marriage mostly for the benefit of men, who took a promising woman with plenty of potential and turned her into a cabbage and household drudge. Without ever bearing any malice towards Jeff, Susan had nevertheless managed to make it clear that marriage was a mistake she wouldn't make again; and Flair, without consciously realising it, had imbibed her ideas and coloured them with her own.

  On leaving school, she had trained enthusiastically in all aspects of the hotel trade. Experience in several of the best hotels, in both the country and London, had taken her to the position of being able to pick and choose her next job; when Jeff had written suggesting a long visit to Australia, it had seemed an ideal opportunity to widen her knowledge, taking her a step further along the path to her ultimate ambition which was to manage a large hotel entirely on her own.

  The arrival of the yellow Holden brought her back to the present, and between them she and Jeff soon had her cases packed into the capacious estate car. She settled herself beside her father, and they drove off towards the suburb where he lived.

  'You're going to love it here,' Jeff said easily as they passed through the quiet streets. 'Especially now, with spring in full swing. There's nothing like the Western Australian wildflowers, you know. Thousands of them, all different, and all colours of the rainbow. Makes the bush look like one huge, opal.'

  'I've been looking forward to it,' Flair assented. 'I'm hoping we'll have time to go around a bit together before I start work—or will you be too busy?'

  'Too busy? With my only daughter in Australia for the first time?'Jeff laughed. 'No, Luke knows the score, and his is the biggest contract I've got just now. I daresay we'll be able to manage something.'

  Luke. The name brought again that odd twist to the stomach that Flair had experienced earlier. Trying, to appear casual, she said, 'Tell me about Mr Seager, Dad. Since he's going to be my employer, I'd like to know a bit about him.'

  'Well, for a start you won't be calling him Mr Seager—we go in for first names here. I don't know that there's much to tell about him really. Practically a self-made man—inherited a pretty rocky business, just a couple of run-down hotels, when his father died, built them up and now he's got a fast-expanding chain. The job I'm on is the design for a new leisure complex on a small island a bit north of here. Should be very nice—Spanish-style buildings, separate chalets for those who want a bit of privacy, swimming-pools, squash courts—just about whatever you want. Actually, it's almost finished—we're starting to think about the next now, a motel down the coast near Albany. Yes, Luke Seager's certainly coming big.' He swung the big car into a pleasant street lined with exotic trees and shrubs. 'Well, here we are— Yokine. This is home. Nice to have you here, Flair.'

  Flair got out of the car, suddenly conscious of an immense weariness. The flight had lasted for over twenty hours, with only one stop for fuel at Bombay; the emotion of meeting her father again after so long seemed to have drained her of any further energy. She stood on the grass at the side of the road, swaying a little, and her father slipped his arm round her shoulders.

  'You're all in, Flair,' he said kindly. 'Why don't you just bring in what you need for now and go straight to bed? I'll make a cup of tea, and then I'll fetch in the rest of the luggage.'

  The sun was streaming into Flair's bedroom when she woke next morning and she rolled over, realising with delight where she was. The trip had been planned and dreamed of for so long that it seemed almost unbelievable that she was actually here; but as she lay there a shout of raucous, chuckling laughter from somewhere outside first startled her, then brought a broad smile to her face as she realised she was hearing her first kookaburra.

  The bungalow was quiet. Jeff had told her last night that he would probably be going m to his office first thing and would see her at lunchtime, giving her the morning in which to potter quietly about and recover from the long journey. She gazed around the room, enjoying its light airiness and the coolness of its green and white colour scheme. Jeff had designed and built this bungalow several years ago, she remembered, and felt sad that he had never had anyone to share it with him. But perhaps he was like his wife Susan and felt that marriage was a mistake to make only once. Certainly they both seemed happy
enough on their own, Susan with the girls' boarding school of which she was headmistress in Surrey, Jeff with his architectural practice here.

  And so would she be, Flair determined as the thought of Luke Seager crept unbidden into her mind. She had never yet met the man who could take and possess her heart—or, indeed, any other part of her. And she didn't expect to now-whatever the female population of Australia might think! Anyway, she had met plenty of men in England who fancied themselves as rakes and irresistible to women. She had managed to resist them without any trouble, and she didn't suppose that Luke Seager, who by all accounts had never been out of Australia, was going to be any more of a threat. Why, he was probably downright uncouth in comparison with the sophisticated and urbane men she was accustomed to in London. No, she had no doubt at all as to her abilities to handle the man they called Lucifer.

  Aware of hunger, she slid out of bed and padded across to the adjoining bathroom. A quick shower freshened her, and she dressed in cool slacks and shirt in matching avocado green before making her way to the kitchen; then, armed with a tall glass of orange juice and a dish of bran flakes, she wandered out through the mesh fly-screen door to the patio and sank down on a long sun-lounger beside the small swimming-pool.

  At first, the light dazzled her; it seemed so much clearer and brighter than at home, and the sky was a deeper, more intense blue than she had ever seen in England.

  The sun was pleasantly warm, though she supposed that as it was still only early October, the temperature would rise a good deal higher in another month or so; her father had told her last night that there was still rain about and the weather could be unpredictable for another three or four weeks. To the Australians themselves, today might still be on the chilly side; to Flair it was heavenly and she stretched out comfortably, promising herself to do some sunbathing later, perhaps even to have a swim.